3:00 PM | More on the solar storm threat
Paul Dorian
Discussion
One of the biggest sunspots in many years is currently rotating eastward with the sun and it will be facing the Earth over the next couple of weeks. While there is no guarantee that this active area on the sun will result in an eruption in the near future, it tends to increase the chances according to solar scientists. The sunspot measures nearly 25,000 miles wide and close to 50,000 miles long and two or three of the sunspot’s dark cores are wider than the Earth itself. The sunspot will remain visible from Earth over the next couple of weeks and we’ll continue to monitor the situation. The trend is for increasing activity on the sun over the next couple of years as we pull out of a deep solar minimum towards a solar maximum in the year 2013 or so. The latest video has more information about this massive sunspot.